893.00/11–1246: Telegram

The Ambassador in China ( Stuart ) to the Secretary of State

1859. On the evening of November 10, I saw the Generalissimo and at his request conveyed thereafter to the leaders of the minority groups a message from him to the effect that he was prepared to consider a postponement of the assembly if within the next 24 hours they would hand in the names of their delegates. The next afternoon a group of minority party leaders including Hu Lin15 had an interview with the Generalissimo in which they assured him the names would probably be supplied if he would postpone the assembly a few days. He finally decided to announce a postponement of 3 days and the invitations issued yesterday afternoon were recalled last night.

General Marshall’s Three Man Committee met informally for 2 hours yesterday morning, the only result being that Chou En-lai agreed to seek instructions from Yenan and himself to give careful consideration to an issue in which the military could not be divorced from the political aspects.

Underlying the interchanges of the past 10 days has been the maneuver on the part of the Government to obtain the participation of the Democratic League and the Youth parties in the National Assembly as a possible first step toward winning the Communists also, and contrary-wise the strenuous efforts on the part of the Communists led by Chou En-lai to keep these parties within their orbit.

The expectation is that the Youth Party will hand in at least a partial list of their delegates today and will attend the National Assembly which convenes but that the Democratic League will be split on the issue.

Stuart
  1. Editor, Ta Kung Pao.